Improvement in windmills



OWEN B. BLAKESLEE, OF RANKIN, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN WINDMILLS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 160,868, dated March 16, i875; application led Y i February 2, 1875.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, OWEN B. BLAKESLEE, of Rankin, inv the county of Vermillion and State of Illinois, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Windmills; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in cer tain improvements in windmills, whereby the position of the driving-wheel can be automatically regulated with reference to the wind, so as to obtain any desired degree of velocity in its revolution, or to check its revolution entirely; and, further, the peculiar construction of the fans enables the maximum effort of the Wind to be obtained, all as is more fully hereinafter explained.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I now proceed to describe the same in connection with the drawings, in which- Figure l represents a perspective view of my machine. Fig. 2 represents a sectional and Fig. 3 a top view of the same.

Like letters denote similar parts in each lig# ure.

In the drawings, A represents a standard, to which is rigidly fastened the supporter B, in this instance by means of the lugs b and b', though no particular form of fastening is claimed. The supporter B is a hollow cylinder surmounted by a cup, the top of the cylinder servin g as a ledge on the interior of the cup, upon which a num ber of balls, c, are placed. The balls c have such a diameter that the journal base-piece G, which rests upon them, shall be just clear of the rim of the cup of the supporter B.` The journal-piece C consists of a cylinder whose exterior diameter is somewhat less than the interior diameter of the cylinder B, and is also hollow. This piece O has a flange, D, at its top, which extends late rally on either side for some distance, and transversely just sufficient to cover the cup on the supporter B. This flange D rests on the balls o before mentioned,which, being placed loosely on the ledge of the cup, are prevented from falling through by the cylinder of the piece C, and serve as rest for the said piece, and enable it to rotate freely on a vertical axis. The lateral flange D serves as a base' for the journals d, d1, di, and d3, in which the shaft E of the driving-wheel F and the shaft Gr of the guiding-vane H are journaled in the same right line. The wheel F is rigidly xed to the shaft E, and may be made in any of the usual methods. The fans I of the wheel, however, are made of rectangular shape, and have one edge, i, bent in so as to catch and hold the wind, and thus obtain its greatest effect. The shaft E is bent to form a crank, e, where it passes over the cylinder in the piece C, and its end opposite to the wheel F is journaled in the journal-block d2. A piston or pitman may be connected with the crank e and the piston of a pump or other machinery it may be desired to run, the hollow cylinder O freely allowing its motion. The shaftr is journaled at one end in the block d2, rests in the bearing cl3, and has a vane, H, at its outer extremity. This vane H is rectangular in shape, though that is not material, and has a weight, h, attached to its inner lower corner, said weight being fastened in any suitable manner and being sufficiently heavy to keep the vane vertical in an ordinary wind. A!!

shaft, K, extending across transversely the rear end of the ange D, is pivoted to the top of said ange just inside of the bearing d3 at 7c. One end of the shaft K has a weight, 7c, and the other end is provided with a large fan, L, which always stands vertically, but which revolves through a certain arc by reason of the shaft K being pivoted at 10".' An arm, M, is rigidly Iixed to the inner end of the shaftG, just outside the journal d2, and extends over said journal. This arm is in the same plane as the vane H. A rod, N, extends from this arm to an eye, n, in the face of the fan L, to which it hooks. 'A rope, O, is made fast to a becket, o, on the shaft K, between the weight k and the pivot k. This rope leads down through the cylinders of the pieces B and C, and when pulled tight will throw the fan L at about right angles with the vane H, and, by reason ofthe connecting-arm M and rod N, the vane H will be turned so as to lie horizontal. The cord can be fastened, and the drivingwheel, having no guide, will be blown out of the wind and its revolution stopped.

The fan L will be made of such a size that when the wind attains a certain strength its pressure on the fan will overcome the influence of the weight on the vane and cause the latter to assume more or less a horizontal position.

The effort of the wind on the fan of the driving-Wheel and on the fan L drives said wheel away from the wind, and consequently lessens the rapidity of its motion.

A decrease in the Velocity of the wind will enable the weight to influence the position of the vane and bring the wheel again into proper position.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In awindmill, the combination of aweighted rotating tail-vane with a swinging transverse fan, which is pivoted y so as to swing OWEN B. BLAKESLEE.

Witnesses:

W. L. MENAGE, R. W. ENGLISH. 

